The Approach to Shiite Studies in British Academic Institutes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Shia Studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

2 Shia Studies,Western Philosophy, Faculty of Baqir al-Olum University, Qom, Iran

3 Faculty of University of Religions and Denominations

Abstract

In contemporary British academic institutes and centers, a range of research is conducted on the Islamic world, including Shiite studies. British researchers have for long asserted that their approach to Islamic and Shiite studies is historical, claiming that unlike earlier anti-Islamic research by the Church, they just aim to learn more about Islamic and Shiite beliefs, without engaging in theological debates about Shiism and its doctrines. Contemporary Western, and particularly British, scholars claim to diverge from evangelical and colonialist approaches and instead adopt a scholarly and academic approach. However, it appears that think tanks in the UK that shape general policies may not align with the claims made by these researchers. We examine these two approaches by drawing upon image-making theory and its application in individual and organizational decision-making. On this theory, images are grounds of such decisions, and reality only makes sense within such images. I argue that “images” form the basis of Islamic and Shiite studies. Given this perspective, we address the following question: Is the approach to Shiite studies in the UK consistent with the claims made by British scholars?

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